Life cycle effects of technology on revenue in the music recording industry 1973–2017

Ivan L. Pitt ()
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Ivan L. Pitt: Independent Senior Economist and Data Scientist

SN Business & Economics, 2021, vol. 1, issue 1, 1-29

Abstract: Abstract Revenue in the recording music industry is driven by exogenous technology inputs and revisions to the Copyright Act. Each new technology and regulatory change had a financial impact that altered the life cycle patterns in the industry, that in turn led to innovative marketing applications that transformed the production, sale, and distribution of music. The premise that technological change follows exactly the theoretical S-curve in all cases may be misleading and this paper provides an alternative measure. We analyze the life cycle effects of technology on revenue in the music industry using an unbalanced panel instead of a logistic growth model when life cycle curves may be ‘irregular’ and the mathematical approximation is often difficult. When the error terms are corrected for heteroscedasticity and serial correlation, the model measures the increased marginal effects of digital technologies (physical, downloads, digital subscriptions, streaming, and synchronization) on music industry revenue for the years 1973–2017. This paper adds to the growing literature of advanced econometric modeling, machine learning, and artificial intelligence analysis in the music and creative industries.

Keywords: Life cycle of music; Physical music segment; Digital permanent downloads; Digital subscriptions; Digital streaming; Digital performance royalty; Pooled time-series cross-section model and RIAA data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 L43 L82 O33 O34 Z11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s43546-020-00004-x

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